World Liberty Financial brushes off oversight concerns from Congress
Zach Witkoff, one of the co-founders of the Donald Trump family-backed crypto platform World Liberty Financial (WLFI), has rebuffed efforts by US lawmakers to investigate the president’s potential conflicts of interest.
In a May 15 letter to Senator Richard Blumenthal, lawyers for World Liberty Financial claimed a call to investigate the crypto platform was based on “fundamentally flawed premises and inaccuracies.” Witkoff did not specifically address any allegations, claiming that WLFI was “too busy building” for oversight.
“The Company rejects the false choice between innovation and oversight,” said the letter. “What it opposes is the misuses of regulatory authority and uncertainty to suppress lawful innovation.”
Blumenthal, the ranking member of the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, was one of many Democrats calling for investigations and legislative changes in response to Trump’s ties to WLFI, as well as his TRUMP memecoin and its dinner scheduled for the top tokenholders on May 22.
The GENIUS Act, a bill to recognize stablecoins as payment instruments currently being considered in Congress, may be a bellwether for how lawmakers intend to handle the president’s potential conflicts of interest.
Stablecoin bill debate continues in Republican-controlled Congress
One of Blumenthal’s and many US lawmakers’ concerns about Trump’s connection to WLFI is the USD1 stablecoin, which the platform launched in March. An Abu Dhabi-based investment firm announced in May that it would use the stablecoin to settle a $2-billion investment in Binance, a crypto exchange that had previously been the target of an investigation by US authorities.
“WLFI’s financial entanglements with the President, his family, and the Trump Administration present unprecedented conflicts of interest and national security risks, including potential violations of the foreign emoluments clause,” Blumenthal wrote in a May 6 letter to Witkoff.
Related: What are the next steps for the US stablecoin bill?
Some Democrats have called for clarification within the GENIUS Act to ensure that Trump was not able to personally profit from stablecoins whose legislation he may have influenced and then have the opportunity to sign into law. However, as of May 16, it was unclear whether any future vote on the bill would address these concerns. Cointelegraph reached out to Sen. Blumenthal’s office for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
Sam Bankman-Fried claimed that handing over FTX to its current CEO was the “single biggest mistake” that prevented him from saving the exchange.
The Conservative Party will leave a key human rights treaty if it wins the election, its leader Kemi Badenoch has said.
Ms Badenoch announced the policy to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) ahead of the Conservative Party’s conference next week.
Despite many Tory MPs having expressed displeasure with the treaty, and the court that upholds treaty rights in recent years, it had not been party policy for the UK to exit it.
The move follows a review on the impact of the UK’s ECHR membership conducted by shadow attorney general Baron Wolfson.
Lord Wolfson’s nearly 200-page report said the ECHR had impacted government policy in numerous areas.
The report said this includes limiting government’s ability to address immigration issues, potentially hampering restrictions on climate change policy, and impacting government ability to prioritise British citizens for social housing and public services.
Read more:
Baroness Mone: I have no wish to rejoin Lords as Conservative peer
But leaving the ECHR would “not be a panacea to all the issues that have arisen in recent years”, Lord Wolfson said.
It comes after the Reform Party in August said they would take the UK out of the ECHR if elected.
The Conservatives have increasingly come under threat from Reform and are being trailed in the polls by them.
What is the ECHR?
The ECHR was established in the 1950s, drafted in the aftermath of the Second World War and the Holocaust, to protect people from serious human rights violations, with Sir Winston Churchill as a driving force.
It’s 18 sections guarantee rights such as the right to life, the prohibition of torture, the right to a fair trial, the right to private and family life and the right to freedom of expression.
It has been used to halt the deportation of migrants in 13 out of 29 UK cases since 1980.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch. Pic: PA
A political issue
Leaving the ECHR would breach the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the peace settlement deal between the British and Irish governments on how Northern Ireland should be governed.
Labour has in recent days said it was considering how Article 3, the prohibition on torture, and Article 8,
the right to respect for private and family life, are interpreted. The sections have been used to halt deportation attempts.
The Liberal Democrats and Greens are in favour of the ECHR.
A general election is not expected until 2029.
Coinbase said seeking the license is part of its broader effort to bridge the gap between crypto and traditional finance.
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